The Macau government collected just above MOP26.79 billion (US$3.33 billion) in fiscal revenue from taxes on gaming in the first half of this year, according to the latest available data, released on Thursday by the city’s Financial Services Bureau. The tally was up 107.1 percent from the prior-year period.
In June, the government collected MOP6.02 billion in fiscal revenue from taxes on gaming, up 5.6 percent from May.
Under Macau’s new, 10-year gaming concession system that came into effect on January 1, the effective tax on casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) is 40 percent.
Macau’s casino GGR stood at MOP80.14 billion in the first half of 2023, an increase of 205.1 percent from a year earlier. Market-wide GGR in June stood at MOP15.21 billion, down 2.3 percent from May.
The tax-take figures in a given calendar period and the city’s casino GGR in such a time frame are not directly comparable for a number of reasons. They include the fact that there is typically a delay between the point where GGR is recorded in Macau casino operations and the point at which tax is registered by the Macau government as having been paid on such play.
The Macau government has previously said it estimates the city’s 2023 casino GGR will be MOP130 billion.
According to the government’s budget plan, revenue from gaming taxes should reach just above MOP50.85 billion this year. The take for the first six months of the year represents 52.7 percent of that figure.
